Kashmir India's internal issue, insists Krishna

WASHINGTON: India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday asked Pakistan to "vacate" its "illegal occupation of certain parts of Jammu and Kashmi" before advising New Delhi "how to go about doing things in Kashmir," after Pakistan sought US intervention on the issue and questioned the state's accession to India. "As far as Pakistan is concerned, they are in illegal occupation of certain parts of J&K. I think that it is desirable that they vacate that first and then start advising India about how to go about doing things in Kashmir," he told a Indian television news channel. He also sought to portray the civil unrest in the valley as an example of domestic strife rather than a separatist insurgency. "The government of India is fully conscious about its responsibilities. There are institutional mechanisms and individual mechanisms, which will be put in place so that the genuine grievances of the people of Kashmir will be addressed. It happens in other parts of the country also. Whenever such strife is there we do the same mechanism so we will follow that," he said.